How to Incorporate Social Embeddedness into Your Study Programme

1. Social Embeddedness at Ghent Univeristy: What Does It Mean?

In our mission statement, we present ourselves as a pluralistic and socially engaged university that is open to all students and staff regardless of their philosophical, political, cultural and social background. We want to frame our education and our research in a broader social context, and to this end, we want to engage in continuous dialogue with our surroundings.

The reason why we invest in socially embedded education is threefold: first and foremost, we want to live up to our mission; second, we want to strengthen a number of our strategic education objectives even further; and last but not least, we want to make our education future-proof. We want to deliver students who are socially responsive and committed, and who, in that capacity, can have an impact on society. We are fully committed to burying the image of the university as an ivory tower once and for all by offering education that is strongly embedded in society. This has a number of consequences for our study programmes, as they need:

to be in tune with current and future social needs and the challenges of tomorrow: what are trends within the discipline, what are future challenges, which competencies do future graduates need to be able to tackle these, ....;

to incorporate various real and authentic contexts (including the ones that are less straightforward) and real-life challenges in their teaching practice;

to make students aware of their own role and opportunities in various contexts;

to stimulate social commitment and social impact. The concept of sustainability can be a helpful compass to give shape to the type of impact we expect from our students;

to deliver (pro)active citizens with learning opportunities in, with and by society.

Society in its broadest possible sense encompasses various different stakeholders: professional field representatives and representatives from the industry, civil society organisations, trade associations, citizens, alumni, strategic partners, policy makers, etc...

2. Incorporating Social Embeddedness into the Curriculum: Why?

Society is changing fast and the resulting complex, global challenges are manifold. Universities deliver tomorrow’s professionals, professionals who have to be prepared to function in complex and uncertain circumstances, as well as be able to give shape to society in an active and sustainable manner.

To ensure that our students acquire the competencies they need to achieve that goal, we must look beyond the walls of our education institution. Only by incorporating society and all its facets into our teaching practice in various ways, and by letting students actually participate in society can we begin to truly understand it.

Impact is an excellent motivator for students! Consider the following: an Engineering Technology graduate (in Dutch: industrieel ingenieur) is asked to design an assistive device for someone with a disability, which is then actually used by the person who commissioned it. The engineer can convey to the students a sense of added value that they will have as professionals.

Society is a living lab abrim with learning opportunities for students to acquire further academic skills in the discipline, but also to hone their generic competencies such as critical reflection, collaboration, communication, creative thought, and dealing with uncertainties. Upon graduation, these competencies will allow them to take on today’s and tomorrow’s challenges in a creative, entrepreneurial and sustainable way. Use that living lab wisely in your study programme!

3. Incorporating Social Embeddedness into the Curriculum: How?

You want to make room for social embeddedness in the curriculum. That’s great! But where to start? Keep in mind that social embeddedness can mean different things depending on the study programme. Each Programme Committee knows what their perfect graduate should look like, and so it is their prerogative to put certain emphases in their curriculum to achieve that. There is a roadmap to come to that goal but that is not to say that the process is linear per se: it is perfectly possible to skip from one step to another. Still, the roadmap can serve as a guiding principle.

3.1 Bring Together a Committed Team

In consultation with your Programme Committee (PC), bring together a group of people who are committed to this theme. Who are possible key players in this process of change? Think for instance of:

lecturers or other staff members associated with the study programme who already work on social impact or the concept of sustainability, whose teaching practice contains an element of collaboration between students and external partners, ...

alumni and students of the study programme;

stakeholders from the professional field;

faculty support staff: curriculum managers, education support staff and/or quality assurance staff;

central support staff: process facilitators for study programme support.

The more diverse the team, the more guarantee the study programme has of being screened and helped from various perspectives, and of gaining a broad outlook on things. In the past, the students' critical perspective has consistently proven to be very valuable in opening up the discussion about the curriculum and increasing receptiveness to new/different opportunities.

3.2 Social Embeddedness at Programme Level: What Does It Mean?

If you want to implement change, you have to identify your goals first. These goals can be made explicit in a study programme’s vision (text). Such a vision (text) explains to a broad audience what the study programme stands for, which (future) objectives it aspires, and how. Find out if, and in what way, interdisciplinarity already features in the study programme’s vision (text), or adjust said vision (text) to integrate social embeddedness further. Taking your cue from that vision, you can then start (re)designing the curriculum.

The following reflections may help you along.

1. The Programme Committee considers the core issue

Try to look ahead by brainstorming on the following question:

What are current and future social problems you want your students to be able to tackle?

2. Reflection questions

The following reflection questions may help you develop a vision on social embeddedness:

which generic competencies do students need, to be able to tackle current and future social problems?

of which social processes developments do students need to be aware? (e.g. political or legal systems, the history of the discipline, sustainability frameworks....)

what are heterogeneous social groups with which will students have to collaborate later, and how will they do so?

in what way do students have to learn to communicate with and to various social groups?

in what way do students need to be aware of their social role and their social responsibility as a professional?

in what way does the study programme want to encourage students to take on social commitment and to have an impact on society?

how is sustainability incorporated into the curriculum?

how is looking for and developing creative and sustainable solutions accommodated in the curriculum?

If you have a clear view on what social embeddedness means in the context of your study programme, you can embed that in the Education Monitor. In some cases, this may result in a refreshing of the programme competencies/learning outcomes, which in turn, need to be implemented in the curriculum.

3.3 Social Embeddedness in the Study Programme: As Is

To gain a full overview of the current state of affairs, it might be useful to screen the curriculum/study programme. To this end, you can make use of resources that will give you insight into where the study programme stands when it comes to social embeddedness. Think, for instance, of course sheets (which course units deal with social embeddedness) and cyclical surveys such as the study programme feedback survey, or the alumni survey (what feedback do students and alumni give on social embeddedness in the programme). This will allow you to map:

the extent to which the study programme currently focuses on social embeddedness, thus implementing its vision;
the discrepancies between the vision, the learning outcomes, the curriculum and the student and/or alumni feedback.

Mapping existing initiatives will garner higher appreciation of what is already in place, and will also strengthen the coherence and profile of the study programme. The Programme Committee may choose to communicate more explicitly on existing social initiatives with (prospective) students and lecturers. This will give the lecturers a better overview of which of their colleagues focuses on social embeddedness. Consequently they gain better insight into the students’ (starting) competencies for each course unit that contributes to the topic. This, in turn, will help them shape their own course unit and determine which (generic) competencies they can aspire with it, knowing what (generic) competencies the students have acquired previously. Students will be better informed of the objectives and the importance of social embeddedness to the study programme and their graduation profile. Once the Programme Committee has a clear view on which teaching and assessment methods are used to implement social embeddedness, they can monitor the work load for students better, too.

In the event that a Programme Committee comes across discrepancies between their vision (what it is we want to attain), the objectives (how they are translated into competencies/learning outcomes), the curriculum (which course units contribute to the learning outcomes), and alumni/student feedback (whether or not students/alumni actually capture what the study programme intends and develops/assesses in course units), they can determine an action plan for the future. Consider the following example: a particular Programme Committee has a vision text in which it presents its graduates as being able to take on social responsibility, only to come to the conclusion that the curriculum contains only one course unit in which this is actually emphasised (according to the final competencies/learning outcomes). Study programme feedback by students reveals that students find this aspect seriously lacking in the curriculum. A possible action point could be to fine-tune the programme competencies/learning outcomes (what is the meaning of graduating with social responsibility), and then to optimise the existing course unit to ensure that the intended learning outcomes are actually acquired and assessed. Finally, the Programme Committee may identify other course units in which the acquisition of social responsibility can be accommodated.

3.4 How to Shape My Curriculum?

Once you have a clear vision, you can start giving shape to the curriculum. Social embeddedness can be conveyed by many different teaching methods. The choice of a particular teaching method and its place in the curriculum depends on a number of (pre)conditions:

the lecturer’s personal interests and competencies;

the students’ intended level of achievement (e.g. do you aim for pure knowledge transfer on social frameworks or do you want your students to actually deal with social issues?);

the time and resources that are available;

the logical alignment with the course contents;

the diversity of the current student population.

The chart below gives an overview of possible teaching methods to support and inspire you when shaping the curriculum. Ideally, you accommodate in the curriculum a moment at which students rotate at, or commit themselves to a company or organisation, tackle a problem in collaboration with an external partner, and during which they have to avail themselves of various competencies in an integrated manner. Do not expect students to acquire the necessary competencies automatically as they go along. It simply does not work that way. For instance, have students learnt to adopt different perspectives? Have they been encouraged before to contemplate their role in society? Have they been asked before to communicate and collaborate with peers who do not speak the same jargon? These competencies call for a step-by-step approach to social embeddedness throughout the curriculum.

On the left-hand side of the continuum, you will find less intensive teaching methods, mainly focused on competencies such as knowledge acquisition. As you move more to the right of the continuum, the teaching methods gradually become more focused on applying competencies in controlled teaching settings (e.g. a simulation), to result in teaching methods with a focus on a fully integrated application of competencies in authentic settings. Each learning opportunity comes with a handy information sheet, as well as practical examples to serve as inspiration.

3.5 Implementation and Support

There are various teaching methods (e.g. ‘integrating authentic contexts’) which lecturers can implement at their own discretion. Other initiatives might require the participation of external partners (professional field, civil society organisations, organisations, policy-makers, ...). Think of, for instance, challenge-based education or an assignment with a real-life challenge.

In support of such initiatives there are some (extra) curricular levers available.

CURRICULAR

Call for Challenges: this platform matches lecturers looking for socially relevant challenges and assignments to use in their teaching practice with organisations who work with students to find solutions to those challenges. Please register to find out more about interesting challenges or to publish your course unit(s) online;

De Stadsacademie ("City Academy"): sustainability issues are translated into specific questions/problems for and about the City of Ghent, and feature as Master’s dissertation topics, research projects and other action research;

Future Proef Award ("Future Dissertation Award"): students working on a sustainability issue in their Master's dissertation can compete for this award organised by Ghent University. The Ghent jury nominates three laureates who then go on to compete on a Flemish level.

EXTRACURRICULAR

Badges for Extracurricular Achievements: badges are an online visualisation of extracurricular achievements by students. If a student has taken up a social commitment in a Ghent University context, and has acquired specific competencies in the process, they receive a badge. It is a way of formally recognising their extracurricular commitments, and sharing them, for instance, with prospective employers.

Sustainability Summer Schools: these summer schools are organised for and by students. Their purpose is to offer student-led interdisciplinary, critical and committed education on socioecological issues.

The key to success are lecturers who are experienced in designing learning opportunities aimed at social embeddedness. A powerful learning environment stands or falls by the expertise of lecturers (or teams of lecturers), i.e. lecturers who have a full grasp of the topic and possess the required (generic) competencies. If you are looking for professional development and/or support initiatives for your team, please contact the Education Support team for tailor-made support.

3.6 Evaluate

In this last step, you evaluate whether or not the curricular revisions you implemented (intended learning outcomes, teaching and learning activities, assessment) correspond to the study programme’s vision on future-proof education. Make adjustments where necessary, but do not forget to share the successes with the entire team.

4. Want to Know More?

Additional information and links:

In case you have questions or want to share good practices, please contact onderwijsondersteuning@UGent.be.

Last modified April 2, 2024, 3:48 p.m.